Small 'Umbrella' of Magnetism Shields Part of Moon from Solar Winds, a Good Sign for Habitability
The Inhospitable Lunar Surface Maybe the moon isn't as inhospitable a place as we first thought when we landed there more than 40 years ago. First we found surface water at the lunar south pole, and now the the Indian spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 has found a miniature magnetic field on the moon's surface which could serve as a minimally protective barrier from the harsh solar winds that would greatly complicate habitation there. The magnetosphere, which is about 224 miles wide, is more like the spotty magnetic fields on Mars. But astronomers think that while the magnetospheres scattered across the Martian surface are almost certainly leftover from a global magnetic field (like ours), it's less likely that the Moon's magnetism was spawned by a molten core. Chandrayaan-1 noticed the magnetic umbrella while imaging the lunar surface. Fewer hydrogen atoms scattering from that particular area of the moon's surface indicates a magnetic...